Toronto police say a suspect wanted in a west-end prowling incident earlier this year could be connected to a similar incident in 2015 that was caught on video.
Police said on July 13, two women sitting in the backyard of a Renforth Drive and Burnhamthorpe Road-area home saw a man in a neighbour’s backyard committing an indecent act before he took off.
At some point after the July 13 incident, Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray told Global News the women came across surveillance footage online of a prowling incident in Etobicoke from three years before.
“They see the video from 2015. They realize they believe that it’s the same person,” she said.
“They contacted police to tell them what happened in the neighbour’s backyard and we have obviously been doing some investigative work to try and identify the man in the original video from 2015.”
The video posted online was released by police shortly after an incident on Jan. 22, 2015. Police said a woman returned home in the Dixon Road and Highway 401 area and saw a man in the backyard. She told her boyfriend, who went outside and saw a man walking down the street, then leave in a beige-coloured SUV.
WATCH: Toronto police searching for suspect in west-end prowling incident (Jan. 28, 2015)
The July 13 occurrence happened two weeks before an alleged sexual assault and a prowling incident at a home in the same neighbourhood, but on Monday, police said investigators don’t believe the events are connected.
Meanwhile, police described the suspect seen on July 13 as being between six feet and six-foot-two with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a dark-coloured jacket, a white shirt and dark pants.
Officers also re-released surveillance images from 2015.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-1104 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
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